


Delicious, juicy berries!

by Northflower



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen, Manipulation, deathberries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 08:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16991118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northflower/pseuds/Northflower
Summary: Sorrelkit stumbles upon something that she was not meant to see.





	Delicious, juicy berries!

Sorrelkit bathes in the sunlight shimmering through the branches as she struggles not to start leaping out of excitement, the only thing keeping her from frolicking around is the need to be silent. The sun is painting everything orange and yellow as if the forest was on fire. Her tortoiseshell fur is catching on the prickly bushes and every so often she has to back up to free a tangle. It’s frustrating, but choosing to go by the path instead might be too risky. She presses her stomach against the dry leaves on the ground and sniffing loudly checks that she is still on the right track, and she is, indeed. And the scent is getting stronger.

Excitement fills Sorrelkit’s lungs with the chilly air, but she couldn’t feel warmer – this is her first time out of the camp! She was tired of hearing the apprentices boastfully brag as they bring back prey from the outside, tired of her mother telling her she is still too young to go and forcefully licking her behind the ears despite her protests… She is almost as big as the apprentices! It isn’t fair that they get to go! But if the clan wouldn’t let her go… She’d have to go out herself.

The camp was always so crowded with cats that it was impossible to smell anything else. Here outside, however, she could feel the wind on her face and interesting scents were carried with the wind… prey, rain, leaves… and another cat. Following the scent, she could prove everyone that she was ready to be an apprentice, even if she did end up getting caught. Which she won’t. She’s always been the best at hide-and-seek. So she keeps trekking through the bright leaves.

The scent grows stronger and stronger, soon mixing with another, a rather unpleasant scent, a sharp one. Sorrelkit feels like she could puke just from the smell of it. But she won’t turn back now, not even if the sun has hidden behind the clouds and been replaced with a cold breeze that ruffles her fur even in her shelter in the bushes. The wind is making it difficult to hear, but luckily also blowing away some of the disgusting stench. And then she hears shushed voices and stops before peeking out through the leaves. How did she get so close without even noticing them?

Both of the toms are very dark and look even darker now that the clouds have drifted to cover the sun. Sorrelkit’s eyes are still getting used to the sudden lack of light that it takes her a while to specify what two cats in front of her look like. The smaller one has dark, glossy fur, and while he is the skinnier and scrawnier of the two, he’s still considerably larger than the kit herself. Yellow eyes glint in the little light, and Sorrelkit recognizes the cat as Darkstripe, her half-brother. He has never paid much attention to her before, which she really hasn’t ever minded due to the older cat’s sour attitude.

The other cat Sorrelkit doesn’t remember ever seeing. Leaves rattle around her tiny head as she tries to peek through the leaves a little more to see him better. This cat is perhaps the hugest she has ever seen, and she can’t help but notice how his unsheathed claws bury into the ground. He’s terribly scarred in the face but doesn’t look that old. Overall, he’s very intimidating, and Sorrelkit quickly retreats to the bushes as his ear flicks, her heart pounding in her ears.

The toms are hunched over and speaking in hushed voices that are even more difficult to hear because of the wind that’s howling in the trees. Sorrelkit flinches as twigs rake her face as she peeks out again, the leaves as red as the blood under her skin. Even now that the cover of the bush is no longer blocking her sense of hearing, she can still only barely make out some words…

“You’ll bring them here, right?”

“It’s going to be difficult to sneak them out of the camp without anyone noticing, I think Fireheart already suspects something…” Darkstripe’s quiet whisper is cut off by the bigger tom letting out a snort.

“You’re afraid of that _kittypet_ now? Has your new deputy been treating you better?” he spits. Something about his tone makes Sorrelkit shiver. The brown tom stands up, only now showing his full height. Darkstripe leans away, his tail betraying his fear. A particularly strong surge of wind covers his low growl, but Sorrelkit can hear Darkstripe’s response, barely a murmur:

“Of course, Tigerstar. I’ll bring them tomorrow.” He bows his head as he speaks, and the brown tom looks satisfied.

“We’ll meet at sunset. I’ll see you then… besides, you’d better take care of your shadow,” he adds, and instantly Darkstripe’s head snaps around and his eyes meet Sorrelkit’s. She dives back into the bushes, but it’s already too late and she knows it. She was caught sneaking out of camp. What if she’s never made into an apprentice now? The wind soaring through the trees and mauling some of the leaves with it reflects the storm in her own head, a woodpecker far away matching the beat of her heart. But as a dark paw pushes away some of the branches to reveal her tiny shape, she’s surprised to see that the tom is smiling.

“So you decided you got enough of staying in the camp, huh?”

His voice is full of honey, and Sorrelkit is baffled. He never sounded like this when talking to their clanmates, always full of snarky remarks, the smile on his face looking like It doesn’t belong there.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. In fact, I think you were really smart to be able to follow a warrior like that.”

Sorrelkit steps out of the bushes, her eyes full of wonder. He’s not mad at her?

“So… you won’t tell my mother? Or Bluestar?” she shyly inquires, ears still burning with the shame of being caught. But Darkstripe just chuckles and shakes his head.

“I don’t think they would mind, but if it’s so important to you then I won’t.”

At that, Sorrelkit slumps in relief. The tension is gone, all that’s left is the comfortable little breeze ruffling her fur. It’s odd that Darkstripe wouldn’t be mad, but maybe he also snuck out of the camp when he was little. It’s not that uncommon, from what she’s heard from the apprentices and elders. Then she remembers the other tom, and is just about to ask Darkstripe about him when he continues speaking:

“I think you deserve a prize. See those berries?” he meows sweetly, pointing to a bush at the edge of the clearing with his tail. It has thick, green leaves unlike most other bushes around, and its branches are dappled with big red berries. Sorrelkit stares in wonder as the round, juicy berries glint in the ray of sunlight that has escaped from between the clouds. She has never tasted berries before, and the ones in the medicine den never looked so plump and delicious, usually being rather dry-looking. She looks back to Darkstripe as if asking for permission.

“These are berries meant for warriors only, but I think you did such a great job tracking me that you deserve some.”

Sorrelkit’s chest swells up with pride and she can’t quite keep the childish mewl from escaping, that’s how excited she is. Darkstripe is padding towards the berries and she happily follows, her eyes bright as the dry leaves crunch below her paws. The berries are plump like the leaves of the bush, seeming to swell with flavor. As much as Sorrelkit tries to keep her paws firmly on the ground, a kit-like wonder is taking over as she thinks of how the berries might taste. _Berries only for warriors! This will show the apprentices!_

As the scene of Sorrelkit returning to the camp and bragging to the thunderstruck apprentices that she’s eaten _the warriors’ berries_ forms in her mind, she can barely wait to taste them. She again looks at Darkstripe who nods at her, and then she quickly bites a few of the round delicacies into her mouth. As she’s grinding them into juice in her mouth, the leaves on the same bush she was hiding in rattle suddenly and a yowl splits the air:

“Traitor!”

Sorrelkit is dimly aware of someone or something launching at Darkstripe and the two becoming a ball of fur as they lash at each other, but her attention is elsewhere. The berries don’t taste good at all. She gags and some of the juice drips from her mouth as her throat tightens and she collapses to a coughing fit, half-chewed berries falling out of her mouth, but the damage is already done.


End file.
